Applique process



r1934- L. DE F. HQKERK 1,948,620

' APPLIQUE PROCESS Filed Feb. 28, 1931 12 J 2 Z r m 31 k K1 1.1

INVENTOR BY 6M;- MJW ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 27, 1934 UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE APPLIQUE PROCESS Lynde De Forest Hokerk, Utica, N. Y. Application February 28, 1931. Serial No. 519,100

2 Claims.

textile fabric, oilcloth, leather, artificial leather,"

or to the material to which the appliques are affixed, and particularly to produce appliqued fabric and appliqued fabric articles which may 20 be laundered without loosening the applique and without causing distortion of the fabric or the appliques due to uneven shrinkage of the base material and applique material or material such as thread with which many appliques are applied.

A further object is to provide a'method of producing applique work in which the appliques are provided with a backing of vulcanizable material and are permanently and securely affixed to the base material by the simultaneous application of heat and pressure.

A further object is to provide a method of manufacturing applique material with a permanent backing in the form of a sheet or film of vulcanizable material so that appliques cut from said material may be applied directly to the base material and be afiixed thereto by the application of heat and pressure.

A further object is to provide a method of aflixing appliques to a base material without the use of liquid pastes or cement, so that soiling of the base material or the applique material in the process of aflixing the applique to the base material is avoided.

With the above and other objects in view the invention may be said to comprise applique work and method of producing the same as illustrated in the accompanying drawing hereinafter described and particularly set forth in the appended claims, together with such variations and modifications thereof as will be apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing'a piece of applique work embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section taken on the line indicated at 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of applying a backing composed of a sheet of vulcanizable material to a sheet of applique material, and also showing how the applique material with the backing thereon is wound on a reel for drying,

v Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of mixing the appliques to the base material.

InFig. 1 of the drawing there is shown a piece of applique work which consists of a piece of base material 1' which may be a textile fabric and which has afiixed to the surface thereof ornamental figures in the form of appliques 2.

The method of the present invention consists in preparing the applique material, blocking out the individual appliques from said material and afixing the appliques to the base material.

7 The first operation consists in cementing to the applique material, a backing composed of a thin sheet of vulcanizable material and allowing the cement to dry or set to permanently secure the backing to the applique material. The individual appliques to be applied to the base material are then cut or blocked out from the sheet of applique material. The aifixing of the appliques to the surface of the base material is effected by placing the appliques in the proper position on the base material and then applying heat and pressure simultaneously to the applique and base material to vulcanize the applique backing to the base material.

As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing the appliqu material in the form of a sheet 3 has applied thereto a backing 4 composed of a thin sheet of vulcanizable material, preferably gutta percha. The sheet of vulcanizable material is of a width to cover the entire surface of the sheet of appliqu material to which it is applied and is securely cemented thereto.

In applying the sheet of vulcanizable material to the sheet of appliqu material one surface of the vulcanizable material is treated with a light rubber cement which contains asufficient excess of solvent to partially dissolve the vulcanizable material on the face to which the cement is applied, producing a very thick, sticky cement mixture on the face of the sheet. The opposite or untreated side of the vulcanizable material retains the general characteristics of dryrub, ber sheeting since not enough oement is supplied to penetrate through the sheeting. A short time after being thus treated the surface of the cemented sheet becomes very tacky and sticky and, after the interval of time necessary to provide the proper degree of tackiness, the sheet of vulcanizable material is brought into contact with the sheet of appliqu material throughout the extent thereof. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the sheet 3 of appliqu material and the sheet 4 of vulcanizable material may be delivered from rolls 5 and 6, respectively, to pressure rolls 7, the sheet 4 passing over an intermediate idler roll 8. A suitable solvent, preferably a light rubber cement may be applied to the sheet 4 by a suitable coating device 9 positioned at a sufficient distance from the pressure rolls '7 to give the solvent the necessary time to act on the vulcanizable material before'it is brought into contact with the appliqu material.

While the sheet of vulcanizable material is drying on the fabric or other appliqu material, it has a tendency to shrink, shrivel and finally separate from the fabric or other material, this tendency being probably due to the action of the solvent vapors continuing to penetrate the sheet of vulcanizable material during the drying process and to the natural tendency of the vulcanizable material to shrink as the volatile substances in the cement are dissipated. It is, therefore, necessary to positively hold the backing sheet against shrinking during the drying operation, and this is preferably accomplished by winding the applique material as it is delivered from the rolls 7 on a reel 10 with the backing sheet on the outside and with sufficient tension to positively hold the backing sheet under tension and compressed against the surface of the ap pliqu material while it is drying.

After the appliqu material is thoroughly dried it has a perfectly cemented, dry, flexible backing of vulcanizable material and appliqus of the desired configuration can be cut from the sheet stock by means of dies or the like.

After the appliqus have been cut from the sheet of appliqu material they may be applied to the surface of a base material by simply placing them in the proper position on the surface of the material and simultaneously applying heat and pressure to vulcanize the backing to the base material. The thickness of the sheetingxpf gutta percha or other vulcanizable material will vary somewhat depending upon the character of the appliqu work but is preferably quite thin, sheets of a thickness of from .0025" to .0085" having been found to be suitable for most commercial applications.

The rubber cement employed may be of varying concentrations but generally a cement containing about two pounds of rubber, per gallon is preferred. Benzol and toluol have been found to be satisfactory solvents and quick acting accelerators kicking off at low temperatures may be used in the compound but arenot essential.

The temperatures used in aflixing the appliqu to the base material vary with different appliqu and base materials depending on the thickness, scorching temperature and time required for the heat to penetrate the materials, the temperatures to which the materials are subjected varying from 250 F. to 500 F.

As shown in Fig. 4 the appliqus may be placed upon a sheet of base material on a table 11 and vulcanized to the base material by pressing the base material with the appliqus thereon between suitable pairs of opposed steam heated platens 12.

The backing of gutta percha or other vulcanizable material is highly advantageous where the appliqu material 'is a fabric such as felt since it positively holds the fabric against stretching before and after the cutting operation, and the appliqus cut from the appliqu material are clearer and more distinct in outline than they would be if out from untreated fabric.

Appliqud fabrics produced'by the present invention can be laundered very successfully and satisfactorily since the vulcanized film is insoluble in water and has sufficient elasticity to compensate for shrinkage of the material due to the laundering so that neither the appliqu nor the backing fabric is distorted due to the laundering operation.

It will be apparent that the present invention provides an extremely simple and rapid method of producing appliqu work particularly appliqud fabric or fabric articles since the slow and laborious operation of attaching the appliqus to the fabric base by cementing or stitching the individual appliqus is eliminated.

Furthermore, the present invention produces very neat and attractive applique work by reason of the fact that the designs are clear and distinct and there is no staining of either the applique or the base to which it is applied.

It will also be apparent that the most complicated of designs may be applied to a backing fabric or material with .very little more labor than that required for the simplest of designs.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the particular product shown and described, and the particular procedure set forth, are presented for purposes of explanation and illustration and that various modifications of said product and procedure can be made without departingfrom my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The herein described method of forming appliques which consists in applying a volatile solvent to one face of a sheet of vulcanizable material to make said face tacky, affixing said sheet to a sheet of applique material by pressing the tacky face thereof against the applique material to cause the sheet of vulcanizable material to adhere to the applique material and form a backing therefor, winding said applique material into a roll with the vulcanizable backing on the outside so that the vulcanizable backing sheet is held under tension while drying, and cutting appliques from said applique material.

2. The herein described method of forming applique material which consists in coating one face of a-sheet of vulcanizable material with a volatile solvent to make said face tacky, pressing the tacky face of said material against a sheet of applique material to cause the vulcanizable material to adhere to the applique material and form a backing therefor, and forming said material to curved shape with the vulcanizable backing providing the convex surface thereof so that the vulcanizable backing sheet is held under ten- I 

